Zendaya's Pastel Eyeshadow Look Is Taking Over—Here’s How to Recreate It

Why Zendaya’s Pastel Eyeshadow Feels Fresh Again

Zendaya’s pastel eyeshadow look from The Odyssey premiere is a softly lit, ethereal glow makeup style that pairs luminous skin with light, shimmering eye accents, creating a Greek goddess makeup look that feels modern, wearable, and surprisingly easy to recreate at home.

Eye shadow once ruled the mid-2010s, when YouTube cut creases and smoky eyes were standard even for 8 a.m. algebra class. Then the “clean girl” wave pushed color off lids and into storage. Now, Zendaya is making eyeshadow cool again by trading heavy depth for airy light. Her press looks for The Odyssey, crafted with makeup artist Ernesto Casillas, lean into light, ethereal shadows while she plays the goddess Athena on screen. The standout? The London world premiere in Leicester Square, where her pastel-bright eyes and glowing skin stole focus on a red carpet packed with names like Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron as the tour geared up for the film’s 17 July release.

This is not nostalgia for maximalist palettes; it’s a reset. Zendaya’s look proves you can wear pastel eyeshadow makeup and still look polished, minimal, and grown-up. It’s no surprise that the bright inner-corner highlight she wore that night has been endlessly reposted and replicated on TikTok, signaling a comeback for inner-accent eye shadow in particular.

The Three Cult Products Behind the Greek Goddess Glow

If you strip Zendaya’s premiere glam down to its backbone, her Greek goddess glow rests on three cult products and one smart strategy: build light, not layers. According to Casillas, he “wanted to give Zendaya a bronzed, sun-kissed, and radiant complexion worthy of a glowing Greek Goddess” and used a trio of glow-focused staples to do it.

First came the Unreal Highlighter Fresh Healthy Glow Stick in the universal shade Glazed Goddess (£32), which gave her complexion that glazed, post-facial shine without glitter. Next, he sculpted with Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Bronzer in shade 3 (£47), a creamy formula designed to blur and bronze for up to 16 hours while staying sweat and humidity proof. Finally, he amped up the radiance with the viral Beauty Light Wand (£31), a highlighter-meets-blush tube designed to deliver a mega-watt glow with a soft-focus finish.

These are not optional extras if you want that soft-focus, ethereal glow makeup finish; they are the architecture of the look. Skip them, and you lose the glazed, almost wet radiance that makes the pastel lids feel elevated rather than flat.

Eyes First: Crafting the Ethereal Pastel Eye

On Zendaya, the eyes are the quiet showpiece: light, mesmerising, and designed to echo the ethereal elegance of her dress. This isn’t a loud rainbow; it’s a wash of frost and light that frames the face without shouting over it.

Casillas built structure with Exagger-Eyes Easy Eyeshadow Stick (£27) in Nude Sculpt, Mink Sculpt, and Satin Diamonds, then topped it with a bright wash of white in the inner corners for that goddess-like glimmer. In Paris, he showed the same philosophy with a frosty baby blue swept across most of her lids, champagne under the brow, and pearlescent shimmer under the lower lash line. Paired with fluttery, spiky, manga-esque lashes and dewy pink blush, the effect is icy yet soft, more cloud than cut crease.

1. Lay down Nude Sculpt along the upper lash line and softly blend upward to create a subtle contour, avoiding harsh lines.
2. Deepen the outer third with Mink Sculpt, keeping the color diffused so the look stays light and ethereal, not smoky.
3. Glide Satin Diamonds over the center of the lid as a bright veil rather than a solid block of shimmer for a lit-from-within effect.
4. Pack a bright white or pearlescent shadow into the inner corners and slightly along the inner lower lash line for that viral inner-accent highlight.
5. Finish with spiky, defined mascara or individual lashes to echo the manga-esque lash vibe without weighing down the pastel eye.

The point is restraint. You are highlighting light itself—inner corners, center lid, and the shimmer of lashes—not carving out heavy angles. That’s why makeup fans are reaching for their blending brushes again; this pastel-forward approach feels like a long-awaited alternative to flat “no-makeup” lids and overworked smoky eyes.

Why This Look Resonates—and How to Make It Your Own

Zendaya’s The Odyssey premiere glam works because it sits perfectly between trend and timelessness. On one side, you have Gen Z and Gen Alpha viewers discovering inner-corner highlight on social media and flooding TikTok with recreations of her London look. On the other, you have Gen X and millennials shrugging, “What? I never stopped doing this!” as they dust off old palettes and fall back in love with eye shadow.

The red carpet itself set the tone: stars filled Leicester Square to kick off the film’s Grecian-themed tour wardrobe ahead of its 17 July release, and Zendaya leaned in with XL romantic waves, a crown braid, and ethereal makeup to match. Casillas describes the look as “light, mesmerising eyes” and a “radiant complexion worthy of a glowing Greek Goddess,” and that precision is what you should borrow: glowy skin, pastel shimmer, and inner-corner light, not an exact copy of her color choices.

If you want to personalize it, swap the icy blue for soft lilac, seafoam, or peach, but keep the structure identical: sculpt with neutrals, glaze the lid, and explode light at the inner corner. This is also where you should be unforgiving about texture: anything chalky or streaky will kill the effect. Reach for skincare-infused sticks and balmy highlighters so your Greek goddess makeup look feels as good as it looks, even when you are wearing it for everyday rather than a world premiere.